I was going to just do a review of the film, but the rolling credits provided a far more interesting form of review. The black screen shows at the end and the following is written:
God’s Not Dead The Movie was inspired by the following
legal cases where the University Students and Campus
Ministries were condemned for their faith
Ok, I thought, these must be really out of order instances where people were – as the above says – condemned simply for believing in something. Not acting in a certain way, or prohibiting someone else from practicing their faith, just for having it. For shame, I thought. I should look into these because, as Voltaire said: “I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Your right to say it, not your right to enforce it upon me with law that is. So without further ado, let’s check out these cases (references at the bottom).
(1) Ward v Wilbanks et al.
“A student in a counseling program claims a right to discriminate against clients who wish to discuss same-sex relationships on the grounds that it violates her religious beliefs.” So Julia Ward is being made out to be the victim in this situation? She is losing her right to discriminate against others and she is the victim? Well knock me down with a feather, we MUST right this wrong!…The result? Well the film tells us of course, Ward won in an appeal and East Michigan University settled out of court for unfair dismissal I assume. Disgusting.
(2) BADGER CATHOLIC INC UW v. WALSH
This is a long article, but basically, a University charges students a fee that it brings together to use for all extra curricular activities. It was abiding by the first amendment when a religious group (Badger) ask for funding. “[The University] is willing to use student activity fees for what it calls dialog, discussion, or debate from a religious perspective, but not for anything that it labels worship, proselytizing, or religious instruction.” Seems fair enough. But then “having decided that counseling programs are within the scope of the activity fee, the University cannot exclude those that offer prayer as one means of relieving the anxiety that many students experience.” Long story short, these guys wanted funding and couldn’t hack it that it was unconstitutional and so, court case. Now they get funding to preach and worship. What is wrong with going to the churches to worship (the ones that get billion dollar tax breaks) I do not know.
(3) Keeton v Anderson-Wiley et. al.
This is very much along the same lines as the first case. A disgusting demonstration of ignorance rather than religious freedom. I shall quote: “Keeton ascribes absolute truth to the proposition that homosexuality is an immoral lifestyle choice rather than an immutable state of being, and she endorses a universal moral prescription against homosexual conduct. According to Keeton, her opinions regarding homosexuality derive from her Christian faith.” Thankfully in this instance, The court of appeal ruled against Keeton.
(4) Christian Legal Society v Russell
This case forces a University to accept the CLS as student organisation. And also, conveniently promotes student neutral funding. Meaning of course, CLS can get money from the student funding…Amazing. This is from the CLS Website:
THE CLS STATEMENT OF FAITH
All officers, directors, members, advisory council members, and staff of CLS shall, as a condition of their employment or membership in CLS, acknowledge in writing their acceptance of, and agreement with the following Statement of Faith, as set forth in Article II, Section 1 of CLS’ corporate by-laws, as amended:
Trusting in Jesus Christ as my Savior, I believe in:
- One God, eternally existent in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
- God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
- The Deity of our Lord, Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary; His vicarious death for our sins through which we receive eternal life; His bodily resurrection and personal return.
- The presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the work of regeneration.
- The Bible as the inspired Word of God.
That doesn’t seem very neutral to me. You can only be in employment if you accept that statement of faith. This sounds remarkably unconstitutional. Doesn’t the Establishment Clause say “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…? To say that you cannot have university funding for your religious group is not prohibiting you from practicing your faith elsewhere; but to rule in favour of respecting this religious establishment is not right.
(5) Lopez v Candaele
Lopez (the student) made a speech proselytising and quoting from the bible that marriage is a union between a man and a woman. The teacher got upset and did not allow him to finish his speech. Instead of giving him a grade he wrote: “Ask God what your grade is”…ace. The student got an A somehow, even though a few students complained that they were (quite rightly) offended by the speech. Lopez tried to sue them regarding their sexual harassment policy and the court ruled in favour of the school in the end because Lopez didn’t have a leg to stand on.
(6) Sklar v Clough
This has to be one of the more serious cases if we are referring to the outrage that modern moral society should be feeling, because I know I am. “the plaintiffs accused the Institute of “religious indoctrination” through its Safe Space program, whose purpose is to “provide a supportive environment for LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered) members of the campus community” and “facilitate their ‘coming out’ process.” I am really trying my hardest here to understand which religion it is that ensures the LGBT community feel safe and feel like they are just as valued members of the world as anyone else. Nope, not a one. I’m sure you’d like to hear what it was really about though. So here:“The plaintiffs claimed that Tech’s “speech code” contained unconstitutional guidelines regulating the speech and actions of individuals and student organizations as well as the locations where such opinions can be expressed.” Well my goodness, someone should be suing this University then! What does the speech code say?: “Under the code, disciplinary action ranging from warnings to expulsion was prescribed for Acts of Intolerance directed against a person because of his or her race, religious belief, sexual orientation, gender, etc.”
Well I never, it says you can be punished for discriminating against gay people…who saw that coming? Anyone? The prosecution won and changes had to be made to the speech codes.
(7) Kenneth Howell, University of Illinois
Ken Howell was fired for describing why homosexual acts are morally wrong. Not just once, but in class and then in follow up e-mails. Yep. I would have fired him too. That is a disgusting thing for a university professor to espouse. But…guess what guys and gals! He was re-instated! Another *win* for the Christian law firm Alliance Defending Freedom.
(8) Sheeran v Shea
Another ADF case. A group of students were holding a pro-life campaign the university said: “[they would face disciplinary measures] if they chose to hold a pro-life event on campus because the information they were sharing with other students was deemed “discriminatory” and did not include a pro-abortion viewpoint.” The ADF lawyers say “Christian pro-life students shouldn’t be silenced, discriminated against, and threatened with expulsion for attempting to share their beliefs on public college campuses”. The public square is no place for religion, we all know this. If there was a pro-abortion campaign then you can bet your bottom dollar that the ADF would be up in arms because it was “religious indoctrination”. What rubbish.
I could go on and on and on. This is all trash and the vast majority if not all of the cases are being brought to court by ADF – ironically enough only defending their specific freedom, not all.
People, you are not being condemned for your faith, and you are most certainly not the victim if your ability to discriminate is being removed, or if you are asking for something that is not permitted in the law.
You are just a moron for thinking so.
References
(1) https://www.aclu.org/lgbt-rights/ward-v-wilbanks-et-al-case-profile
(2) http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-7th-circuit/1536916.html
(3) http://www.splc.org/pdf/keeton_district.pdf
(4) http://www.adfmedia.org/News/PRDetail/5034
(5) http://www.lcwlegal.com/79938
(6) http://nique.net/news/2008/05/23/sklar-v-clough-case-resolves/
(7) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/15/kenneth-howell-firing-rev_n_647630.html
(8) http://www.adfmedia.org/News/PRDetail/3116
Regarding Religion 